our backyard campfire
09/25/2003 04:31 a.m.

one night last year, after dark, I was headed out the door and my wife asked, "where are you going?"  I think I'll build a campfire in the back yard."  I think she thought it was a little screwwy but that is the type behaviour she's come to expect.  After a bit she joined me with a couple of beers and some popcorn.  It was a cool night with twinkling stars.  We sat there, in love, and talked some and just sat there some and said nothing.

and then another night I did the same thing and she did the same thing and we sat there , in love.

and then another night our son joined us and we all sat there and talked and laughed and told stories on each other.  It added to the richness to an already rich life.

tonight, our granddaughter and Katie and Sara and Chris, my other son, and Vanessa, Chris's squeese, and David and carolyn all sat around the fire.  David pushed all the girls cept Vanessa on the rope swing.  They giggled and laughed.  Later David got sawdust from the garage and sort of dribbled it in the air above the fire until it lit into a fireball.  then we began to experiment with other powders (mostly from the kitchen) non dairy coffee creamer seems to work best.  Makes quite a show.  you start about two feet above the fire, dribbling a little stream of powder until it catches and the flame starts to chase the powder upwards (it needs to be well lit) and then toss the powder in your hand into the air.  Poof, it makes a nice poof. a nice fire ball. 

Then David retrived some balls of material that Grandmother Patricia, my squeese (and girlfriend and wife of 28 years) had cooked up in "Grandmother's Kitchen"  a mixture of charcoal, sulfur and some other things used in making gunpowder.  These balls are a gray substance a little larger than golf balls.  David set one in the fire. Wow everyone enjoyed the flamining sizzling mass, sort  of like watching an alka seltzer of fire

it added richness to an already rich life.  burnt a whole in the grass though, big deal

oh yeah, please don't get your shorts in a knot over me calling Vanessa , Chris's squeese.  You know we all love her and I'm just being jovial.  Gavin doesn't have my mood in the drop down list.  let's just say my mood is better than I can express.

Do stop by and join us sometime, sometimes we have deep religious/philisophical discussions with a background of love gentleness and listening to one another punctuated by laughter.  ( we disagree in such a friendly fashion) sometimes we pray about the log in our eyes (not near as much as we probably should), sometime we just drink beer and don't say much at all, sometimes I swear God Himself shows up.  If you come by you can decide if what I'm saying is true.  If you hit it the right night I think you will agree with me.